Man dead, 20 hospitalised after ‘bad batch’ of MDMA infiltrates Melbourne

[poledriver]

Man dead, 20 hospitalised after ‘bad batch’ of MDMA infiltrates Melbourne clubbing district

A bad batch of the drug ecstasy is believed to be linked to the death of a man and up to 20 hospitalisations along a busy Melbourne party strip over the weekend.

Police said around 20 people have been taken to hospital since Friday after taking the drug at nightclubs around the Chapel Street precinct.

Officers are investigating whether the death of a 30-year-old man from Elwood who died late on Friday after taking MDMA is connected to the same string of overdoses.

Meanwhile, a 17-year-old Doncaster boy is in a serious condition at the Alfred Hospital after a drug overdose. It is unknown whether the boy took drugs on Chapel Street.

A 30-year-old man was arrested earlier today in relation to drug related matters after staff at a night club in the area contacted police.

He was allegedly pointed out to staff at a club after a woman overdosed.

"A lady overdosed at a club and one of her friends identified the male and he was subsequently arrested by police," Detective Senior Sergeant David Newman said.

Police said he will be charged with trafficking offences but was "not carrying a large quantity of drugs".

The spate of hospitalisations has triggered Victoria Police to warn people to “think twice” before taking drugs.

“There is always a risk whenever someone chooses to take drugs on a night out but clearly this risk is particularly heightened at the moment with what we’ve seen this weekend,” Detective Senior Sergeant David Newman said in an official statement.

“Drugs such as MDMA are dangerous and manufactured by criminals with absolutely no regard for the safety of the people who take them.

“It’s important that people realise they’re putting themselves in danger of not just hospitalisation, but permanent disability or even death by consuming these drugs.

“We want people to come and have a fun and safe night out, and the last thing police want to be doing is knocking on your family’s door because a tragedy has happened.

“It is a completely avoidable risk.”

http://www.9news.com.au/national/20...lbourne-clubbing-district#tSZjccLCyers0CKZ.99

 

[spacejunk]

This is really fucked.
Law reform and regulation is really the only solution here.

In the very least, Australians need access to GC/MS testing such as Wedinos, or these sorts of tragedies will keep occurring.
Our politicians really need to lift their game, and show some leadership and courage to set up the sort of lab testing programs available to people in certain european countries.

The spate of hospitalisations has triggered Victoria Police to warn people to “think twice” before taking drugs

I usually think at least thrice before taking drugs, but no amount of contemplation is going to mean a thing if you've got no idea what - or how much of it - is in your pill/cap/baggie.

I'm tired of police always giving advice on these matters; they have a vested interest, as they are employed to enforce drug laws, and police quotes in these sorts of articles are just patronising and pointless.

 

[poledriver]

^ Yeah

If anyone has anymore info on what the bad batch(es) are please let us know. I'm not sure if they are the pills and caps in the pic or not.

I wish the police would release more info on dangerous batched of drugs.

 

[poledriver]

French waiter accused of dealing 'bad batch' of MDMA that may have led to three Melbourne deaths

A French waiter has faced court accused of dealing a bad batch of ecstasy that may have led to three overdose deaths in Melbourne over the weekend.

Sebastien Verger-Giambelluco, 30, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court in this morning on charges of trafficking MDMA and possessing the proceeds of crime.

The court was told that 20 people were taken to hospital with suspected overdoses after taking the drug at nightclubs around the Chapel Street precinct.

Three of the overdoses were fatal, but police could not confirm if all of them were linked to Mr Verger-Giambelluco.

Mr Verger-Giambelluco was granted bail and will face court at a later date.

The spate of hospitalisations yesterday triggered Victoria Police to warn people to “think twice” before taking drugs.

“There is always a risk whenever someone chooses to take drugs on a night out but clearly this risk is particularly heightened at the moment with what we’ve seen this weekend,” Detective Senior Sergeant David Newman said in an official statement.

“Drugs such as MDMA are dangerous and manufactured by criminals with absolutely no regard for the safety of the people who take them.

“It’s important that people realise they’re putting themselves in danger of not just hospitalisation, but permanent disability or even death by consuming these drugs.

“We want people to come and have a fun and safe night out, and the last thing police want to be doing is knocking on your family’s door because a tragedy has happened.

“It is a completely avoidable risk.”

http://www.9news.com.au/national/20...lbourne-clubbing-district#HepDmqUATUAZqk77.99

 

[poledriver]

Chapel St one of most dangerous nightspots in Melbourne

WARNING: Graphic content.
A MELBOURNE woman is approached by a group of drunk men, who are shouting at her about her dress.
“I just looked forward feeling very intimidated and outnumbered,” she tells news.com.au.

“I rolled my eyes, said nothing and kept walking, but they started following behind me, ‘Hey, hey! F***ing b***h!’.
“I was about 10 metres in front of them about to go round the corner of Chapel (Street) when I heard one of them shout at me, ‘I’m gonna f***ing rape you c***!’ By now I was terrified and fastened my pace. I glanced behind me, saw a few of the guys running towards me.

“I ran across Chapel Street. Just at that moment I saw a vacant cab travelling towards me, I hailed it and jumped in. All this happened in a matter of seconds. As I got in the cab and it drove away, I could see the group of guys running in my direction, yelling.”

This is just one of the shocking stories from Melbourne’s party strip, Chapel Street, where sexual assault, drugs and violence is rife.
Just on the weekend, it is believed three people died and 20 people overdosed after taking MDMA from a bad batch, among those people was a 17-year-old.
Police said the death toll could continue to rise.

DRUGS SOLD ON THE STREET
A man accused of dealing dodgy drugs faced Melbourne court on Monday after being charged with trafficking MDMA and possessing the proceeds of crime.
He was arrested after he was allegedly pointed out to staff at a Chapel Street club after a woman overdosed after buying drugs from him.

The overdoses have been linked to between six and 10 nightclubs but police have not named which ones were involved.
Popular Chapel Street nightclub Revolver Upstairs expressed concerns for those taking drugs in the precinct.

It warned patrons about drugs on its Facebook page, warning revellers not to risk their lives with illicit substances.
“We will do everything in our power to ensure our patrons are safe,” the club wrote.

It is not known exactly what kind of drugs were sold and ingested, but a regular MDMA user posted on Pill Reports, an ecstasy test results database, about a drug on Melbourne streets called Beige Pacman.
It is described as a thick pill with a chalky texture and a Pacman symbol is pressed into the top.

The contents of the pill are unknown but the user put a warning out a week ago to people who may come across it.
“I’m a regular pill and MDMA taker, have a medium tolerance, and never had any bad experiences,” the user wrote.

“Had one of those Pacman pills on (January 6) in Melbourne. Within half an hour I was violently ill and vomiting. Two of my friends had exactly the same reaction.
“I don’t have a test kit, so can’t confirm what’s in them, but just putting a warning out there that I think they’re dodgy.”

Turning Point Treatment Services clinical director Dr Matthew Frei told news.com.au the number of collapses in Chapel Street was “horrific”.
He said a cluster of overdoses wasn’t common when it came to taking MDMA and thought the drugs these people took could have been from the same batch.

But what was in these drugs, we may never know.
“It’s almost like detective work sometimes to find these things out,” Dr Frei said.

“Sometimes the chemical in a drug you are looking at is very new and testing for them might not even be available or may just be early on in its sophistication.
“How do you get to the bottom of what’s going on with it? It’s not like alcohol or prescription drugs where you know what happens.”

Dr Frei said it was at times hard to know what you were getting with MDMA, with some manufacturers imitating the drug, using dangerous ingredients.
“A lot of people who purchase pills as ecstasy may have either an unknown dose of ecstasy or get a drug that is impure or adulterated,” he said.

“Sometimes things are added to the ecstasy to increase its value in the illicit drug market or increase its effect in some way. In some cases, drugs sold as ecstasy might have more risks than we know about.”
Dr Frei does not think we can arrest ourselves out of the drug problem as it doesn’t minimise the harm of drugs on young people.
“We see people obviously come into emergency departments quite ill,” he said.

“There is law enforcement going on, yet we have people dying. Another option is telling people, if they’re going to do that, they need to do as much research as they can, have the pills tested if they can, and go to events with a friend who may not be using and can be your minder. Contact ambulances if you or your mates are in strife and stay well hydrated. Also rest because there are some adverse effects where people dance until they collapse.”

‘I GOT REALLY ANGRY’

Some woman have admitted to feeling unsafe in Chapel Street after they were sexually assaulted or harassed during a night out.
Fairfax Media reported another woman was sexually assaulted while in line at KFC on Chapel Street in 2015.

“I got really angry, really angry, and then I got really upset that it had happened to me, really vulnerable,” the woman said.
A year before the KFC assault, another woman was allegedly gang raped by five men near Chapel Street.
Fairfax Media reports she told police she was tied up with masking tape.

She said she then ran naked to Chapel Street and was taken to hospital.
The men attacked her after she headed down Snowball Lane, right near Chapel Street.

‘KICK A POOFTER TO DEATH’

There’s been a number of violent brawls and one-punch attacks in the Chapel Street precinct — there were even homophobic signs plastered to posts in the street last year encouraging people to be violent towards people in the gay community and “kick a poofter to death” to “cure” AIDS.

The violence has become a concern and the latest attack happened just before Christmas, when a man fell victim to a one-punch attack.
Ryan and his friend Edwin Fox walked past four or five men on Chapel Street, who taunted them.

The Herald Sun reported the men were pushed and shoved and then a man punched Ryan in the back of his head.
“My friend is not doing so well. He is mentally shook up, battered and bruise,” Mr Fox said after the incident.

“Were were on a night out, on a work do. We went to a few areas around Melbourne, eventually heading home.
“We got out of a taxi and caught the eye of the wrong people.
“We were involved in a horrific assault — totally unprovoked.”

Just before Ryan’s attack, in November, a huge brawl spilt from a nightclub on to Chapel Street.

The Herald Sun reported a man, was hit in the face with a bottle, a young woman was knocked to the ground and a wheelie bin was used as a weapon and thrown at a man’s head while he was down on the footpath.
In another incident in 2015, a man and his brother bashed a man unconscious during a confrontation over racist comments.
AAP reported James Bruce was coming out of a bar on Chapel Street when a man of African background walked past and overheard Mr Bruce say “my n*****”.

Mr Bruce said he was singing a song but the men had an argument and the African man left.
CCTV footage captured Mr Bruce following him and punching and kicking him in the head.

Mr Bruce’s brother then kicked the man in his groin as he lay motionless on the ground.
The pair pleaded guilty to a charge of intentionally causing injury in September last year.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...e/news-story/4152883850109a19e91e90d71c9b50eb

 

[WSH]

I can almost guarantee that it was not MDMA!

MDMA is quite safe and a single tablet is almost impossible to cause harm.

I think it was PMA:

PMA has been found in tablets touted as MDMA (ecstasy)[7][8][9][10] although its effects are markedly different compared to those of MDMA. The consequences of such deception has often been hospitalizations and deaths among unwitting users.

 

[spacejunk]

I just wish that this information would be released to the public, if indeed anyone knows.

You might be right; but the lack of info is criminal IMO.
Using people's deaths to further the agenda of prohibionists is pretty sick

 

[day_trippa]

RAINBOW SERPENT ORGANISERS CALL FOR PILL TESTING AFTER DRUG DEATHS IN MELBOURNE

Rainbow Serpent Music and Arts Festival organisers are calling for a fresh approach to recreational drugs laws after a horror weekend in Melbourne resulted in three deaths.

Three people died amid at least 20 suspected ecstasy overdoses which were recorded along the Chapel Street nightclub precinct in Melbourne on the weekend.

The deaths come just 10 days out from Rainbow Serpent’s 20th anniversary festival, which kicks off at Lexton on January 27.

Festival organiser Tim Harvey said the fatalities highlighted drug use was a nationwide problem, not solely with music festivals.

He said organisers were doing everything in their power to provide a safe space for festival-goers, but were “waiting with bated breath” for a legislative change to allow drug testing.

“(The current approach) just isn’t realistic, and you’ve got to approach this issue with reality in mind,” Mr Harvey said.

“I totally understand the ideal situation is to say don’t take anything, but if you’re still peddling that line these days you’re not living in reality.”

The festival is again partnering with the government funded body DanceWize to attempt to minimise the harm of illicit drugs use at the festival.

Outspoken Canberra emergency medicine specialist Doctor David Caldicott will also be on site at the four-day event. Doctor Caldicott, along with fellow harm minimisation advocate Doctor Alex Wodak, gained national attention in 2016 by promising to conduct pill testing at music festivals in New South Wales despite prohibitive legislation.

“We’ve got the best medical set up and response team in Australia...and we’re trying to give people harm minimisation strategies for looking after themselves,” Mr Harvey said. “This is not about ideology, this is about saving human lives.”

The festival will also be attended by Adriana Buccianti, who’s son Daniel died at the event in 2012 after a combined drug overdose.

Despite initially calling for the festival to be shut down, Ms Buccianti has since become an advocate for legislative changes which would allow drugs to be tested at festivals.

She said while establishing a drug testing regime would not condone the use of illicit substances, it would save lives.

“We have to make it very clear that no drug is a good drug,” Ms Buccianti said. “But the discussion we keep having about pill testing facilities is one that should have been dealt with because we know it works overseas.

“We know people are going to take substances, and at the end of the day nobody wants to come out of a festival or venue from a body bag.”

The cause has the support of the Australian Greens and the Australian Sex Party, however both major parties remain opposed to pill testing. Speaking in March 2016, Premier Daniel Andrews said testing illicit substances went “a long way” towards normalising drug use.

The renewed calls come after Rainbow Serpent drew intense criticism from police following its 2016 incarnation, where police arrested four people on drug trafficking offences. Forty people were caught driving under the influence of drugs when leaving the festival, while police also responded to four sexual assaults.

Inspector Bruce Thomas said police would maintain a 24-hour presence at the festival, and anyone caught in possession or dealing drugs would face the same consequences as in the community.

“Drug taking is always of concern but some of our emphasis has shifted to the very real problem of drug impaired driving from the festival,” Inspector Thomas said. “With approximately 7,000 vehicles on site, this area is of real concern to Victoria Police.”

Inspector Thomas said anyone caught handling substances as part of a pill testing service could be liable to prosecution under the Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substance Act 1981.

“Issues such as pill testing are likely to feature as part of The Victorian Government Inquiry into Illicit and Synthetic Drugs and Prescription Medication. This will be an important forum that will consolidate the evidence on how best to tackle the harms arising from illicit drug use and distribution. We look forward to the inquiry.”



http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/...for-change-after-weekend-drug-deaths/#slide=6

 

['medicine cabinet']

If you look at edata and some of the Dutch "super pills" you'll see over 250mgs sometimes. That's a high ass dose. If you double droppin you'll need two coffins.

Should absolutely have more access to testing. Bc even if a pill only has MDMA in it but twice the normal dose that's da gerous as well..

 

[Bearlove]

So a substance believed to be MDMA was found - it has not been tested but it's believed to have a 'toxic quality' ? Pill's have been taken and thought to be the reason behind the overdose but nobody knows what was in them, what stamp was being used etc.

It's avoidable - just don't take pills = bury our heads in the sand again.

It's avoidable - give people the facilities to test their drugs without the fear of arrest.

 

[Bearlove]

If you look at edata and some of the Dutch "super pills" you'll see over 250mgs sometimes. That's a high ass dose. If you double droppin you'll need two coffins.

Should absolutely have more access to testing. Bc even if a pill only has MDMA in it but twice the normal dose that's da gerous as well..

I hate some of these new high strength pills - it creates yet another unknown factor to dropping. Yes you can test it for adulterants but you don't know the MG's - take half and its a weak pill then you have to drop more but you have missed the rush. Take a full one and it's stronger than your used to and the come up / effects can be uncomfortable for a lot of people.

 

[hotgirls.jpg.exe]

So a substance believed to be MDMA was found - it has not been tested but it's believed to have a 'toxic quality' ? Pill's have been taken and thought to be the reason behind the overdose but nobody knows what was in them, what stamp was being used etc.

It's avoidable - just don't take pills = bury our heads in the sand again.

It's avoidable - give people the facilities to test their drugs without the fear of arrest.

There have been some pictures circulating of the caps in question (they're in a post in AusDD) and they look atrocious. Not like MDMA at all and the reagent tests look extremely suspect. But they were sold as MDMA so as far as law enforcement is concerned, that's what they are until proven otherwise (which it will be, no question).

It enrages me whenever I hear LE sermonise about not knowing what's in the drugs making them dangerous. It's because they're illegal! But so much time, money, effort and fiery resolute rhetoric has been poured into the War On Drugs™ that it's really hard to see what could finally prompt that change